MIAC XC 2017

I like seeing Concordia up there. It's refreshing.

Four of their top 7 are underclassmen, and only 2 are seniors.

If all athletes stay at Concordia and continue to improve, they could be pretty good in the next year or so. Could there be a culture change in the works up north? I sure hope so. It would be refreshing to have another team in the mix for the top 3-4 spots.

It can be a bit overplayed seeing the same 4 teams up top every year.

St. Thomas (164 points)

Wachter proved that his breakout opener was not a fluke, and showed that he has a chance to be a top 10 runner in the MIAC. Behind him, it doesn’t look like they have any other potential top 25 runners, but Rosenau showed last spring that he does have that upside. If Rosenau or someone else breaks out, St. Thomas could finish 3rd.

Do people realize that both Rosenau and Andrew Fritz finished in the top 29 at MIAC last year? Doesn't that give a pretty good indication that they are "potential top 25 runners"?

Concordia?? I'm in wrote:

Jimmy L wrote:

I don't get why you have Concordia so high up in the rankings. They had a bad performance at St. Olaf and at Griak you can't tell how they would stack up against other teams. But looking at Griak, they didn't blow me away. I still think they should still be around 8-9th place.

They didn't run their #1 and #5 at Griak

I agree with their current ranking

I like seeing underdogs make a jump for sure. It'll depend on whether Wicklund is healthy, and if Quibell recovers from a lower leg injury. Still, Bethel and Macalester and maybe even Gustavus could have improved since St. Olaf just as much. It should be a pretty close competition for those #3-4 spots at MIAC.

Well, which one of you two is this? Nice to hear from you

lol the 27 min bubs are always looking for some attention.

runmn wrote:

lol the 27 min bubs are always looking for some attention.

Didn't you graduate "bub"?

Must be CLose at least wrote:

runmn wrote:

lol the 27 min bubs are always looking for some attention.

Didn't you graduate "bub"?

Still more relevant on these boards than the 27 minutes bubs

runmn relevant? Lol. Probably just another 27 bub.

more like 30min bub

Here is the next poll... Who can do it?

Non Polar wrote:

http://www.strawpoll.me/14030263

Here is the next poll... Who can do it?

I picked Evan Hatton for the sole reason that it could be an extreme sick and kick race.

That aside, those were very limited options...

I see more similarities with the way DI XC is done lately -- shorter courses throughout the pre-championship season, powerhouse schools only running top runners once before the championships. It makes it extremely difficult to predict anything, and also a bit boring, at least until October.

So far it looks like St. Olaf and Carleton could be a close race. Maybe. And if St. John's runs well, they could be a solid third. But it's hard to tell, they have not yet even run a full 8K race. We'll have a clearer picture after this weekend.

For those with some 8K times, it's hard to compare, as we've had some unusually hot weather that have slowed some races down.

Right now I don't see anyone beating DCG at conference, but there's usually at least one or two guys in the lead pack to have a breakout performance.

St. Olaf looks pretty decent in a deep field, with Ketola leading the team. Berhe and Bakken were DNF, but they have such depth, it won't matter for MIAC.

St. John's is pretty solid looking. Will need to see the other meet results tomorrow.

It's sad to see Paul Timm have another poor performance, he's such a strong runner. Is he dealing with any sort of injury or alement that anybody knows of?

William Anderson also seemed to be farther back than I imagined he'd be. On the other hand, a couple other oles (lerdall, furcich, and kirtley) really showed up today which is cool to see. Could be a good year for some unexpected guys.

I'm also interested to see how tomorrow goes.

Ketola was 8th at the 5K mark in 15:44, just a few seconds behind the lead chase pack (Darin Lau was 15:09). Lerdall came up from 24th in 16:05 and finished just a second behind in 15th, great racing. A bad day also for Henschel, ranked #2 in MIAC by the Oracle, slipped from 16th in 15:58 to 55th, the team's #6 spot. Timm has a 31:16 10K PR, so he may have the miles in the bank to bounce back in a few weeks.

Right now they have enough runners to make up for dips in performances by others, but without peak performances from the top 5, they could be vulnerable to Carleton. Let's see how they look in the Running of the Cows today! Macalester and Gustavus will be there, but it only lists St. Thomas women, even though it's on the men's schedule. Hrm. Race is at 10:30.

http://www.fastfinishresults.com/

Couple more thoughts on yesterday -- unranked UW Stout had a pretty astounding race, just 11 points behind #6 ranked Eau Claire, and a tight 33 second spread. Since unranked Platteville also beat St. Olaf, they will likely slip down in rankings.

Timm and Ketola were #4 and 5 guys when St. Olaf placed 4th at Nationals in 2015, and Timm was their #6 when they were runner-ups the previous year. That kind of experience should lend to the kind of leadership and confidence that should give them an edge late in the season.

The MIAC were destroyed by Carthage, Cornell, Grinnell and Luther. Most of them ran incomplete teams. St. Thomas, Carleton, Gustavus and Mac were 5, 6, 7, 9. Carleton's Matthew Wilkinson was individual winner in 25:40.

Missing runner included:

Donson Cook-Gallardo

Matt Wilkinson

Lucas Mueller

Keenan Ronayne

Parker Rosenau

Andrew Fritz

Karl Wachter

Carl Kozlowski

Mac Doherty

Considering how St. Thomas did missing all those runners, that bodes well for them.

Strike Wilkinson from missing runners list, obv - copy/paste error.